USA TODAY International Edition
New streaming service — but no sports — for $16
The Walking Dead and Property Brothers have another streaming video home.
A&E, AMC, BET, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, HGTV, OWN and another 30 channels are part of a new subscription streaming service called Philo, launching Tuesday for $16 a month.
Not in the lineup: ESPN and any of its other channels or competing offerings from Fox Sports and regional sports networks.
In that way, Philo differs from some of the biggest names among the more than 200 TV services you can currently subscribe to, and have delivered by broadband, in the U.S., according to research firm Parks Associates.
Most of the live TV services — such as DirecTV Now, Sling TV, Hulu, Sony’s PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV — have sports within the channels they offer. But not all consumers want sports or live TV news, Philo CEO Andrew McCollum says.
Over the past two years, McCollum and his team at Philo, which is based in Cambridge, Mass., have taken what they have learned from operating a college-based next-generation TV system to develop a streaming video service.
In feedback, students have said they wished they could take the broadband delivered service with them when they graduate, McCollum says.
Cost is a concern
Many consumers transitioning from college into the workplace don’t want an expensive pay TV package. Having a channel such as ESPN and its sister channels can add $10 to $15 to a monthly programming package, McCollum says.
“That’s the first thing that led us to this entertainment-focused package. Looking out in the marketplace, it doesn’t really exist,” he said. “If you care about entertainment content, and it’s not just sports, there’s no way you can get that content without paying the huge cost of sports.”
Spending on subscription video on demand is expected to reach $9.6 billion this year, according to consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, and approach $11 billion in 2018.
How it works, what it costs
Philo is offering a free seven-day trial, inviting potential users to type their phone number on Philo’s site.
Initially, you can watch on computers using a Web browser, on iOS mobile and portable devices and Roku TV streaming products, with other products and Android mobile support coming soon.
An unlimited cloud DVR saves programs for 30 days, and you can watch video on up to three devices simultaneously. For $4 monthly, you can add an additional nine channels: American Heroes, BET Her, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Family and Discovery Life, Logo, MTV Live and Nicktoons.
And as you would expect from someone who started at Facebook, McCollum plans to add several social features to Philo once the service has a sizable audience.